mcpsearchconsole vs mcp-server-gsc

The two differ most in how Google lets them in: mcp-server-gsc uses a service account, a robot identity you create in Google Cloud and add to each property; we use your own Google sign-in.

mcp-server-gsc, following its README as of 2 October 2026:

1. Open Google Cloud Console.
2. Create or select a project.
3. Enable the Search Console API.
4. Create a service account and download a JSON key.
5. In Search Console, add the service account's email as a user on each property you want to query.

Then add an mcpServers block to your client's config that runs npx -y mcp-server-gsc with GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS pointing at the key file, and restart the client. You need Node.js 18 or later. The README does not state a setup time.

Search Console MCP, the hosted Google Search Console MCP server:

1. Add https://mcpsearchconsole.com/mcp as a connector in your AI client.
2. Sign in with Google and approve the read-only Search Console permission.
3. Ask a question.

Every property your Google account can see is available straight away; there is no per-property step. The trade-off is that requests pass through our server, while mcp-server-gsc talks to Google from your machine.

What mcp-server-gsc can do that Search Console MCP cannot

• Service-account access. Good for unattended scripts and shared machines where nobody should sign in with a personal account. We sign in with a Google account only.
• Big pulls with regex. search_analytics returns up to 25,000 rows in one request and filters queries or pages with regular expressions, across web, image, video, news, Discover and Google News search types.
• Quick wins in the same call. Set detectQuickWins and it flags query and page pairs that rank on page one or two with plenty of impressions but a low CTR, with position, impression and CTR thresholds you can change.
• Run on your own Cloudflare account. The repository includes src/remote.ts and a wrangler deploy script that serve it over HTTP, optionally behind a bearer token. The README does not document this, so treat it as a do-it-yourself route.
• Be read and changed. It is a small MIT-licensed codebase (35 commits), easy to audit or fork.

Its code registers eight tools: list_sites, search_analytics, enhanced_search_analytics, detect_quick_wins, index_inspect, list_sitemaps, get_sitemap and submit_sitemap. Only the first analytics tool is documented. It asks Google for the read-only scope, which Google's API does not accept for submitting sitemaps.

What Search Console MCP can do that mcp-server-gsc cannot

• Work in web chat with no deployment. claude.ai, ChatGPT and Grok Bot need a remote server with sign-in. We are one; mcp-server-gsc's documented route is a local program.
• Use your own Google account. No Cloud project, no key file to keep safe, and no need to add a service account to every property, which matters if you manage many sites or client properties you do not own.
• Ranked analysis beyond quick wins. search_insights covers striking distance, low CTR, cannibalization and the biggest movers between two periods.
• Site checks. PageSpeed and Core Web Vitals, DNS, redirect chains, robots.txt and TLS certificates.
• Notes that persist, shared across the company on Team.
• Nothing to update. Its last commit was on 4 September 2026 and the npm version is 0.3.0; we ship fixes on our side.

What neither does

Neither stores history beyond Google's 16 months, tracks SERP rankings or reports backlinks. Both read the same Search Console API, so the numbers match.

mcp-server-gsc is free to download. Its cost is your time: creating the service account, adding it to each property, and the occasional fix when Node, a client or Google changes something. Search Console MCP has a price and almost no time cost.

self-hosted yearly cost = (setup hours + upkeep hours per month × 12) × your hourly rate
hosted yearly cost      = monthly price × 12

Example only, with assumptions you should replace with your own: say setup takes 45 minutes, adding the service account to new properties and other upkeep averages 10 minutes a month, and your time is worth R an hour. That is (0.75 + 0.17 × 12) × R ≈ 2.8 × R a year. Solo costs €59.88 a year before VAT, so in this example the two break even at about R = €21 an hour.

The full plan details are on our pricing page.

From mcp-server-gsc to Search Console MCP

1. Add https://mcpsearchconsole.com/mcp as a connector and sign in with a Google account that has access to your properties (the service account's access does not carry over).
2. Ask "list my Search Console properties" to confirm.
3. Remove the gsc block from your client's config file.
4. Optional: remove the service account from each Search Console property and delete its key.

Plain-language prompts carry over. Saved prompts that set detectQuickWins become a request for striking-distance or low-CTR insights.

From Search Console MCP to mcp-server-gsc

1. Follow its README to create the service account, add it to each property and configure your client.
2. Copy anything you saved with add_note (ask "list my notes").
3. Remove our connector, cancel any paid plan, and revoke our access in your Google account.

For a self-hosted option with more documented tools and OAuth sign-in, see our comparison with mcp-gsc.